Castiel/Abilities and Weaknesses

Powers and Abilities

Original Abilities

Castiel projecting his shadow wings as an angel to Dean Winchester

Since his first appearance, Castiel has possessed astounding abilities and is one of the most powerful supernatural beings the Winchester brothers have ever met. Castiel has shown to possess all the powers of regular angels – including entering human dreams, smiting demons, telekinesis, teleporting and transporting others and himself through time. Uriel seemed so sure of Castiel's powers that he felt confident that if Castiel joined him and his fellow rebels, they would be powerful enough to challenge Heaven and free Lucifer from his Cage. Even Anna Milton, despite having once been Castiel's superior, chose not to directly confront him after Castiel appointed himself as the Winchesters' guardian. Instead, she went back through time in an attempt to ensure that Sam and Dean are never born, although Anna retained her smiting ability while disconnected to Heaven while Castiel did not, showing that Anna was stronger. Even when not at full strength and when weakened by being cut off from Heaven, Castiel was apparently quite powerful by even angel standards and was shown to be a very capable fighter, as he was able to take on and defeat several, at least over half a dozen, of his angelic siblings by himself when he was fighting to prevent the Apocalypse.

These were Castiel's powers as a common angel. Some of this power depended on his link to Heaven.

• Angelic Possession – As a spiritual being, like all angels, Castiel needs to use and possess a human vessel to physically interact while on Earth. As an angel, he requires the vessel's permission.
• Astral Projection – Castiel is able to partially project his true form while inside his vessel, which appeared at the end of the Season 4 episode Lazarus Rising as shadows of his feathery wings on his back to show Dean proof that he was in fact what he claimed.
• Chronokinesis – Although he has said it is difficult for him, even with the powers of Heaven at his disposal, Castiel can travel forward and backward in time, and he can take passengers.
• Dream Walking – Castiel appeared in Dean's dream to deliver him a message.
• Healing – Castiel can instantly heal the wounds and diseases of humans. Castiel has saved and healed both Sam and Dean many times from their wounds. As a fallen angel, he was not able to heal.
• Immortality – Castiel, as an angel, like all celestial beings, doesn't age over time and is immune to disease. He never tires, and does not need to eat, sleep, drink, or breathe to sustain himself or even his vessel.
• Regeneration – There are very few things able to permanently harm or kill Castiel, as he has repeatedly shown the ability to quickly, if not instantly, heal and regenerate from any non-supernaturally inflicted wound or ailment, regardless of its fatality.
• Invulnerability – As an angel, Castiel is entirely immune to most, if not all, means of physical harm, at least they be enhanced by magical or otherwise supernatural means. In his first appearance, he was completely unfazed by several shotgun blasts and being stabbed by the Demon-Killing Knife. Later, when Dean Winchester punched him out of anger, Castiel barely flinched and the impact sounded as if Dean had punched a piece of metal. An alternate version of Castiel seemed to possess a similar level of invulnerability as he was unbothered by several attacks from Dean, including being bashed in the head by a piece of steel kitchenware.

• Smiting – Castiel possesses the ability to kill or exorcise a demon simply by touching his palm to the forehead of its host. He is able to kill lower-level demons and other beings like monsters with a simple touch. When this happens, a strong white light appears from the eyes and mouth of the victim and burns them from the inside out. This ability does not work on demons stronger than Castiel as Alastair proved to possess complete immunity from such an attack. Lost the ability when he became a fallen angel as it came from Heaven, but regained a more powerful version after his second resurrection.
• Resurrection – Castiel brought Dean back from the dead. He lost the ability when he became a Fallen Angel as it came from Heaven.
• Sedation – Castiel can cause instant unconsciousness in humans by tapping them or simply placing two fingers on their forehead.
• Localization - As an angel, Castiel is able to track and locate beings, although not if they are warded by Enochian sigils. He can track warded person's location if they pray to him.
• Pyrokinesis – Castiel displays the ability to burn through ropes binding him. 

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  Castiel punching Uriel through a wall

  Super Strength – As an angel, Castiel is physically much stronger than humans, ghosts, monsters, lesser angels, and most demons. Though he typically seems to attempt to avoid fighting, he is a very formidable physical opponent when need be, and is unstoppable when facing mortal beings. He proved capable of overpowering common angels and humans with ease, and he once beat Dean to nearly a bloody pulp. Although incredibly strong in his own right, an angel such as Uriel or a high-level demon such as Alastair had superior levels of super strength. As Uriel exhibited superhuman strength when battling two demons in the episode Heaven and Hell, Castiel most likely possesses such physical power as well. Also his strength has been seen in numerous episodes, and he is shown be quite strong. In the episode On The Head Of A Pin Castiel was able to send Uriel flying through a wall. However, he was no threat to archangels. An alternate timeline version of Castiel displayed a similar level of strength, able to effortlessly overpower and throw Sam and Dean Winchester around like ragdolls.
• Astral Perception/Senses - Castiel can see things hidden to humans. Castiel's vision and hearing are at extreme superhuman levels; he was able to see a symbol on a person's heart that was so small Sam needed a microscopic lens to see it.
• Telekinesis – Castiel has the ability to move objects and even people with his mind, imparting kinetic energy on matter with his mind. He used this to twist Ruby's Knife into Alastair's wound after having stabbed him with it. He later uses this power to unscrew a bolt from a distance.
• Telepathy – Castiel is able to read the minds of humans and other lower-level angels.
• Voice Mimicry – Castiel once perfectly imitated Bobby Singer's voice.
• Protective Charm – Castiel is able to protect someone from harm beforehand, as seen when he prevented his vessel, Jimmy Novak from burning his hand on a pot of boiling water when asked for a sign of faith.
• Apporting – Castiel is able to teleport Dean to St. Mary's Convent from Chuck's house with a touch of his hand to his forehead, and later teleports him away from Zachariah to his side at a roadside.
• Spell Casting – As an angel, Castiel has extensive knowledge of Enochian symbols and spells which he has used for a variety of effects. He could draw an Enochian Devil's Trap that could completely suppress and bound a demon as powerful as Alastair. He also knew of symbols that could banish or ward off angels. After his first resurrection, he branded Sam and Dean with a pattern of symbols that would conceal them from every angel in creation, even one as powerful as Lucifer. He later did the same to Adam. Castiel was also capable of casting various tracking spells.

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  Castiel using his white light on Cain

  Holy White Light (granted by another angel's grace) – While possessing the grace of an unknown ranking angel, Castiel displayed this ability, using it to blast a door open and then again on Cain. However, being the very first Knight of Hell, the latter was so powerful the blast of light merely ruffled his hair.
• Lie Detection - While powered by Adina's grace only, Castiel was able to sense that the now-human Metatron was telling the truth when he admitted to previously lying about knowing a cure to the Mark of Cain.
• Limited Cosmic Awareness – As an angel, Castiel possesses a superhuman level of intelligence. He explained the reason of his chronokinesis limits by partial differential equations, that shows that he has highly advanced understanding of mathematics, explicitly of mathematical calculus and differential geometry. Like other angels he has vast knowledge about celestial related things such as the weapons of heaven, prophets, others types of angels and nephilim. He also retains knowledge about spells and symbols.

Seraph Abilities

“	I do believe he brought me back. New and improved.	”
	— Castiel to Dean in Swan Song

Castiel projecting his true form

After he was killed by Lucifer during the Apocalypse, God resurrected Castiel and endowed him with new and stronger powers, making him more powerful than before, as he said, "I do believe he brought me back. New and improved." Castiel reveals in Blood Brother that he's now a Seraph, a higher species of angel. Not only has he gained greatly enhanced powers – including healing, resurrection, teleporting, smiting, Reality Warping, Soul Channeling, Soul Reading, psychokinesis removal and chronokinesis – while retaining all previous ones, but now he is independent from Heaven and could function with his powers independently of Heaven. This means he retains his full powers and angelic grace despite being a Fallen Angel and cut off from Heaven. His growth in power and strength is emphasized by the fact that when he was a regular angel, an angel of similar rank, like Uriel, was capable of beating him, but in the seasons following his promotion to Seraph, even groups of angels are incapable of killing him, although they are likely lesser angels and are naturally weaker than him. At times, he has been able to completely overwhelm and brutally slaughter his angelic siblings, as seen when Hannah's angels were torturing him, but he broke out and killed them after they murdered Hannah, though his strength may have been partially due to the Attack Dog Spell Rowena had cast on him.

Initially following his rescue from Purgatory, Castiel appeared weakened from his time in the monster realm as he is quickly drained from using his powers such as teleporting or killing a low-level demon. However, this seemed to be temporary as he later but quickly recovered his full seraph abilities. After Metatron took Castiel's grace, Castiel lost his angelic powers (excluding hearing angel radio and recognizing other angels) and was rendered human and powerless. Castiel has recently gotten what is left of his grace back and has stated he is back to full power, though he has broken wings, making him a Seraph again. Although over time after The Fall, he stated that his powers are failing. His Seraph abilities include:

• Immortality – Castiel is immune to age and illness as well as most forms of physical harm on earth.

Castiel reveals the shadows of his wings while preparing to smite the king of Hell, Crowley.

• Astral Projection – As a Seraph, Castiel's true visage is far more hazardous and far more terrifying to creatures such as humans, demons, and other earthly monsters. Castiel was able to combine this with the use of his white light even while in a weakened state to force the King of Hell Crowley to retreat.
• Astral Perception/Senses - Castiel is capable of immediately discovering a person's identity or their prior medical status by simply smelling their remains, regardless of the condition of said remains. He is also capable of speaking to and understanding animals, as well as listen in on radio frequencies. He saw the true faces of demons from a far enough distance that Dean needed binoculars. Castiel was able to perceive Chuck in Donatello while he was speaking to him and the boys in the Bunker.
• Intangibility - As a spiritual being, Castiel can phase his vessel through solid matter, exemplified when he tested if Sam's soul was present without leaving any physical effects.
• Invisibility – Castiel can become invisible to humans. He used this ability to spy on Dean living a normal life and again when trying to see how much Dean, Sam, and Bobby have learned about him and his alliance with Crowley.
• Mental Manipulation – By placing his hand on a person's forehead, Castiel is able to manipulate a person's mind, being able to create, erase or alter memories or simply alter their perception of events altogether. He easily tore down the mental dam inserted by Death on Sam that protected him from the memories of him being tortured in Lucifer's Cage. Though he was unable to cure Sam from the resulting madness it caused, he was able to transfer the mental damage from Sam to himself. He is also able to show a person the true version of their memories, not just the version they choose to remember. This is shown when he makes Dean see what really happened when he escaped Purgatory. Later, Castiel stripped the ritual to open a rift from the mind of Donatello Redfield, but doing so left Donatello brain dead. However, after Donatello's mind started to reconstitute itself, Castiel was able to finish the process and bring Donatello back to normal.
  • Memory Manipulation - Castiel allowed Sam and Dean to remember the events of the alternate timeline that was created with Balthazar prevented the Titanic's sinking. He erased the memories Lisa and Ben's memories of Dean, after Dean asked him for a favor. He also showed Michael all the visions of God's betrayal.
  • Dream Walking – He was able to enter Fred Jones' dream and took Sam with him.
  • Telepathy – By touching Rowena's forehead and concentrating, he was able to see her memory of Oskar.
  • Mental Projection - Upon his return from Purgatory, Castiel attempted to reach out to Dean mentally, causing images of Castiel to appear on the side of the road and at a window. However, due to Castiel's weakened state, these images lasted too short a period of time for Dean to investigate them or be sure they were real.
  • Animal Communication – Castiel was able to communicate with a cat.
  • Lie Detection - At the request of Arthur Ketch, Castiel was able to sense that he was not lying to the Winchesters at the moment to ease their doubts about him.
  • Mind Control - By touching his hand to a Secret Service agent's forehead, Castiel was able to make him believe that there was no one in a motel room but Kelly Kline and ordered him to wait in his car. The effect only lasted a few minutes.
• Sedation – Castiel can cause instant unconsciousness in humans by tapping them or simply placing two fingers on their forehead.
• Pyrokinesis – Castiel can now no longer just create fire, but he can manipulate and extinguish it effectively. Castiel displayed this ability when he extinguished the circle of holy fire that trapped Balthazar.
• Reality Warping – Castiel, in one instance, altered reality, by shaking a 'Sorry' board-game, and having everything instantly set up. He was later able to fill a vial with his blood just holding it tight in his hand and not making any cuts. Also he was able to change his appearance and clothes into his original one after returning from Purgatory, and he apported every hair and fiber of dirt off his face and coat.

Castiel overpowers Crowley

• Super Strength – Being a Seraph, Castiel has exhibited higher levels of physical strength than he did as a common angel. He is capable of overpowering humans, ghosts, monsters, demons and even his angelic brethren with greater ease, as seen against Raphael's soldiers or against his former friend Rachel. He also once easily forced the demon Crowley against a wall, despite the latter's position as the King of Hell, and left an impression on the wall. In addition, he once again beat Dean to a bloody pulp. However, against the Archangels, such as seen with Raphael, Lucifer and Michael, as well as the Alternate Michael, and Princes of Hell, such as Dagon and Ramiel, Castiel was no match for them, as all the four aforementioned individuals had easily beaten him to a bloody pulp, with Alternate Michael effortlessly knocking him out with a single punch while the real Michael could restrain him even when cuffed with Supernatural Handcuffs with ease, although Castiel was strong enough that while Lucifer was weakened due to his depleted grace, he was able to injure him and briefly held his own while Lucifer's strength was reduced because of Vince's deteriorating body, although on the former he was still unable to defeat him and had to escape and in the latter, Lucifer was still quickly able to pummel him. Though he could still be outmatched by the Leviathans, Castiel proved capable of standing up against them. In Purgatory he managed to hold off two Leviathans, overpower and ultimately incapacitate them with Dean's help. Castiel also proved to be strong enough to lift a 1-ton anvil with ease and was also able to rupture a stone wall just by merely touching it. Even in a weakened, injured and trapped state, he was able to overpower and kill Efram along with Jonah. As a seraph, Castiel's strength is sufficient to overpower multiple regular angels at once in combat. When he was attacked by an Angel named Duma and her henchmen, Castiel was easily able to outmatch them, with the Angels only winning the fight when Duma caught him by surprise from behind. Even after Duma became the Ruler of Heaven, Castiel was confident that he could surpass her strength, with Duma choosing to threaten Mary and John rather than challenge him. Castiel easily overpowered Eremiel and even threw the other angel across a room effortlessly.

Castiel smites two demons

• Smiting – Castiel's angelic killing touch became much more powerful after his resurrection. He could instantly kill several demons with great ease by using this ability. He was also capable of killing various monsters using this ability such as creatures even in Purgatory. He tried to smite a Leviathan in Purgatory, but he was unable to, due to negation of his powers. It is unknown if he could've smote a Leviathan when his powers were not blocked. Though Castiel retains this power, in later years he switched to angel blades for killing demons until he smote Dipper and later one of the Bunker Incursion Demons. He also proved capable of smiting zombies. Castiel displayed an exceptionally powerful version of smiting when he killed the demon Belphegor. The smite completely incinerated and charred the demon, and unintentionally destroyed Lilith's Crook.
• Healing – Castiel has displayed the ability to not only heal any wound, but can also cure people of both physical and psychological diseases. He was able to heal Kevin Tran of his wounds and was also able to regrow cut-off limbs as he did with Kevin's finger. He easily cured Charlie Bradbury of her carpal tunnel while simultaneously healing a bullet wound, though he suggested she still wear a wrist brace at night. On one occasion while healing a gunshot wound his hand glowed though he usually heals without any visible sign besides the injury healing, but the bullet was stuck inside that man's body. There are some things even he can't heal. According to Castiel, Sam is damaged on the subatomic level from his trials and it is beyond his power to fix that. Despite his fully restored powers, Castiel was unable to heal the damage a Grigori did to Amelia Novak, something that stunned him as he'd never encountered that problem before. He was later able to heal Ishim of a deep angel blade wound. While the healing left Castiel weakened, Ishim felt better than he had in a millennia afterwards. Castiel healed Dean's broken arm from Dagon without trouble and Shaggy Rogers broken arm as well. After Dean suffered an injured leg from a grenade launcher explosion, Castiel healed it, at the same time healing Dean's cuts and bruises from a fight with Arthur Ketch. However Castiel could not heal the deceased security officer killed by Jack in an accident. It is unknown if he was able to resurrect him or not. Castiel was also unable to heal Arthur Ketch after Dean shot him, for a presently unknown reason.
• Regeneration – Like any celestial being, Castiel has accelerated healing abilities. He can instantaneously regenerate from injuries caused by earth-based weapons. However, he takes somewhat longer to heal damages caused by Angelic Weaponry. When shot by a bullet made by melting and repurposing an Angel Blade, once he removed the bullet, he regenerated, but it took time.
• Resurrection - Castiel easily resurrected Bobby after he was resurrected again as a Seraph by God. By locating Jack's soul in Heaven, Castiel was able to resurrect him long enough for Jack to perform a ritual to cure his fatal condition, bringing him back permanently. However, without the ritual to cure Jack's condition, Castiel lacked the power to bring Jack back for more than a few moments and when Jack returned, he was still sick before the ritual was performed.
• Biokinesis - Castiel was able to cure Dean in order to prevent him to become a Jefferson Starship.
• Localization - As a seraph, Castiel is able to track and locate beings, although not if they are warded by Enochian sigils. He can track warded person's location if he pray to him.
• Clairsentience - He could detect the presence of the Cosmic Entity while in The Empty stating he could feel it.
• Vessel Locking – Castiel has displayed the ability to grab a demon's smoke form and force it back into its body to smite it.
• Soul Reading/Channeling – By pushing his hand into a person's chest, Castiel can determine the presence and condition of a person's soul, and if the soul was branded by a deal. He can also siphon energy from or completely absorb a soul to recharge and enhance his powers. The process is extremely painful and delicate, having been noted by Castiel as putting one's hand into a nuclear reactor and causing the person to explode should anything go wrong. Castiel displayed this ability to see that a boy had sold his soul to Balthazar and again to see how damaged Sam's soul was after it had been tortured in Lucifer's Cage. He used it to search Sam's body and later informed Dean that Sam's soul wasn't there. Castiel displayed this ability to strengthen himself with 50,000 souls from Hell and again when he absorbed all the 30-40 million souls of Purgatory to evolve into a mutated angel.
• Leviathan Perception – Due to having been used as a vessel for the Leviathans, Castiel can see past their vessels and shape-shifting abilities and correctly identify them. This ability allowed him to identify the real Dick Roman, so he and Dean could kill him. While in Purgatory, Castiel was able to sense the presence of two nearby Leviathans before they could attack the group while Dean and Benny were completely unaware of them and later sensed two more approaching as he and Dean neared the escape portal.

  

  Castiel about to blast Crowley

• Holy White Light – When Castiel became a Seraph, his holy white light became stronger and more glorious. He used this power to kill a dozen Jefferson Starships. Even while weakened by his time in Purgatory threatening to use this power against the King of Hell Crowley along with displaying his wings caused Crowley to retreat.

Soul-Enhanced Abilities

Castiel during his day as "God".

In order to fight the war against Raphael, Castiel made a deal with Crowley for a loan of 50,000 souls, which enhanced his powers and allowed him to launch the first strike against the archangel. After absorbing the millions of souls from Purgatory (including a large number of Leviathans), Castiel was endowed with god-like abilities that made him both highly dangerous and unstable due to the power intoxicating him and clouding his judgment. During this time, his power exceeded that of the Archangel Raphael and he was confident enough to challenge Death, although Death simply dismissed him as a mutated angel and found him as insignificant as everyone else, implying he couldn't actually challenge him and it was just arrogance (though it was never explained if it was indeed possible for Castiel to defeat him or not).

His new powers took a serious toll on his vessel, as it started to melt as a result of him being unable to contain that much power in his physical form. Death had also referred to him as a mutated angel, which was noted by the lack of the common sound of wings flapping when he teleported from place to place and he did not even bleed at all like usual as shown when Sam stabbed him.

After absorbing millions of souls from Purgatory, he became so powerful that he was able to overpower an Archangel easily, his powers included:

• Lower Tier Nigh-Omnipotence – After absorbing souls in Purgatory, Castiel became one of the most powerful beings in the universe, as the souls endowed him with unspeakable power, allowing him to do almost anything he wished. He effortlessly obliterated the archangel Raphael with a snap of his fingers and later killed thousands of angels who were Raphael's followers in Heaven. He could also kill humans with a single thought or word; such as when he said to a hypocritical church preacher, "He who lies in my name shall choke on his own false tongue," causing the preacher to literally choke on his own tongue. As well as perform miracles like making the blind see, curing an entire colony of lepers, exploding a publishing house, causing lightnings to burn down a motivational enlightenment center, smiting Madison square garden, killing 200 religious leaders, changing a church window to his image, scorching a seat, causing a man to sit down hard enough to break the seat, turning off Crowley's TV in his presence and unbound Death with a snap of his fingers. Castiel even told Crowley of his initial intention to eliminate Hell, an entire spiritual realm. However, Death was mostly unconcerned by Castiel's new-found powers and openly mocked him, saying he was no God, but instead calling him a "mutated angel." Also, despite his new-found power, Castiel was willing to keep Michael and Lucifer sealed within the Cage.

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    Castiel using Holy White Light on Raphael

    Holy White Light – Castiel was able to emit a powerful white light from the palm of his hand in a similar fashion to that of an Archangel. He used this power to temporarily banish Raphael.
  • Power Negation – He was capable of neutralizing the power of other creatures, including an Archangel's powers. This rendered Raphael helpless.

  • 

    Castiel kills Raphael

    Molecular Combustion – With a snap of his fingers, Castiel was able to render Raphael down to his component molecules, killing him in an explosion of blood and gore.
  • Spell Negation – With a simple snap of his fingers, Castiel was able to break the powerful spell that Sam, Dean and Bobby had cast to bind Death, something even the latter was unable to do, although the fact that he was bound was probably at least partially responsible for this.
  • Smiting – When Castiel absorbed all the souls in Purgatory he smote Madison Square Garden and all angels who were on Raphael's side.
• Nigh-Invincibility – Due to his massive absorption of the Purgatory souls, Castiel became immune to nearly any form of harm as seen when he was unfazed from being stabbed in the back by an angel blade. After turning into a mutated angel, he was no longer vulnerable to angelic blades or any other angelic weaknesses. Enochian signs were then useless against him as seen when he tracked down and cornered Crowley in his sigil-covered trailer. However, Death and God were still more powerful than him. He was also vulnerable to the mass of souls and Leviathans inside him, which, according to multiple individuals, would eventually cause Castiel's human vessel to explode due to his inability to properly contain so many souls and control all of that power.
• Immunity – Castiel became immune to nearly any form of harm as seen when he was unfazed from being stabbed in the back by an angel blade. Enochian signs were now useless against him as seen when he tracked down and cornered Crowley in his sigil-covered trailer.
• Sedation – Believing himself to be the new "God", Castiel confronts a reverend whose views he deems hypocritical. When a parishioner attempts to stop Castiel, he renders him unconscious, breaking the church pew and forcing his body down.

Powers Granted by Jack

While briefly empowered by Jack, Lucifer's son and a powerful Nephilim, Castiel displayed a few powerful abilities during this period. Castiel only possessed these powers while holding hands with Jack's mother and lost them once the connection was broken.

• Super Strength - During this period, Castiel became strong enough to effortlessly restrain the Prince of Hell Dagon who had easily beaten him in a fight when he was relying on only his Seraphim abilities.
• Power Negation - During this period, Castiel was able to render the Prince of Hell Dagon completely powerless.

Dagon is incinerated by Castiel.

• Pyrokinesis - During this period, Castiel was able to burn the Prince of Hell Dagon to ashes, killing her, a feat not previously seen performed by any other character.

Other Abilities

In addition to his considerable angelic powers, Castiel also has other formidable skills, not a few of which his angelic siblings lack, acquired both from his combat training in Heaven and hunter training and interaction with the Winchesters.

• Indomitable Willpower - Castiel has displayed a tremendous amount of mental strength throughout the series. Despite his initial misgivings, he eventually was able to muster the willpower to rebel against Heaven after seeing how far Heaven had become corrupted and despite Lucifer still being released, Castiel was able to keep fighting with vigor and even despite his anger at Dean for trying to make his sacrifice in vain, Castiel only vented up on Dean and did not give up, even without hesitation attempting a suicidal plan by taking on 4 angels.
• After becoming a Seraph, despite God refusing to respond and feeling deeply guilty over having to betray and deceive the Winchesters, Castiel was still able to continue his civil war with Raphael and efforts to find Purgatory until he finally managed to win the war and gain all the power of the souls inside for himself. Even after all the destruction he caused and becoming temporarily insane, Castiel was able to eventually muster the strength to help Dean defeat the Leviathans and keep on living, drawing on his desire to achieve redemption.
• Castiel even managed to temporarily overpower Lucifer's possession over him to save Sam, a truly astonishing feat, though he proved to be inferior in this regard to Sam as he had to use all he had to keep him at bay and could not expel Lucifer.
• Castiel did not give up on saving either Dean or the soulless Jack even as Dean was possessed by Michael and wreaked havoc and Jack killed Mary, persisting on saving Dean even after Michael repossessed him, even able to overcome Michael's attack with sheer rage, a remarkable feat as even Sam was left paralyzed, and refusing to let Jack be killed even though God himself said that Jack cannot be fixed.
• Even after God killed Jack and caused the second Apocalypse, Castiel remained as determined as ever to stop God and despite wanting revenge, Castiel was able to just barely muster the willpower to resist the temptation to kill Belphegor for defiling Jack's body to stop the chaos and even disfigure Jack's corpse to kill Belphegor and as always, even after he was estranged with Dean after Rowena's death, Castiel was still able to remain determined to protecting the world.
• Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant - From the beginning, Castiel was already a highly accomplished fighter, deemed to be among the best of Heaven's soldiers. His skills are sufficient to fight against stronger beings, as he was capable of landing vicious blows on Alastair before getting overpowered by him in both their altercations, and outfighting Uriel, able to hit him more than Uriel did and only losing due to his superior strength and getting surprised and hit with a crowbar.
• Even as a fallen angel, Castiel's skill more than made up for his diminishing power against his fellow angels, as he gave one of Zachariah's angels, armed with an angel blade, a swift trashing before killing him with his own angel blade, and easily thwarted a surprise attack from one of the angels guarding Adam's resurrected body, disarming him of his angel blade and using it to swiftly kill the angel. This skill, in addition to his powers greatly increasing after he became a Seraph, has only improved over the course of the series, partly due to his time spent with the Winchesters who are formidable combatants themselves and his brief time spent as a Hunter-in-training.
• His skills are shown in his fights against other inhuman beings, as he is able to disarm many beings with Angelic weaponry and then use that weapon to kill them. He has proven capable of fighting his lesser angelic brethren with ease, shown when he easily defeated one of Raphael's followers despite the latter having just disarmed and was using his angel blade against him when he had just determined Balthazar's location, forcefully tossing away the blades the angel was using against him and tossing him out of the building alongside himself, overpowered and killed Rachel despite having been injured by an angel blade, swiftly defeated Bartholomew unarmed despite holding back and Bartholomew wielding an angel blade, easily dominated Duma and two other angels simultaneously before being caught off-guard, effortlessly beat Eremiel despite him being armed by an angel blade, and even while his hands were restrained by the Supernatural Handcuffs and he was weakened from torture, swiftly overpowered and killed both Jonah and Efram.
• Castiel had also displayed the ability to use his skill to fight against stronger beings, as shown when up against two leviathans and surprised, after recovering from the harsh beat down, he managed to toss aside one and then punch her for Dean to decapitate her, in addition to also being able to force back Magog unarmed before using his angel blade against Magog's sword, surprise and knock Lucifer away from Sam before being soundly pinned down when he fought him alongside Sam and Dean, briefly hold his own against him when his vessel was deteriorating and even managed to force Lucifer to escape from him when Lucifer's grace was considerably reduced, although the fight left Castiel injured enough to pass out. This skill remained with him even as he became human, as he managed to kill an angel in a broken bus without his powers, although the angel was caught off guard at the discovery that Castiel was now human.
• Due to his superior strength, Castiel could easily defeat and beat Dean to a pulp, doing so twice, once before even becoming a Seraph and an alternate version of him easily beat both him and Sam, although it must be noted that Dean was surprised and trying to reason with him and still managed to land blows. Over time, his fighting skills, as they continued to improve, even reached the level from when he briefly held against Dean when he was powered by the Mark, blocking two of Dean's blows and even able to counter and simultaneously get a hold on Dean before finally being decisively overpowered while holding back as he had no intention to harm him, to eventually becoming capable of surpassing Sam in skill, as shown when Castiel outfought not only Sam but also several other humans controlled by the psychic Chip. He was able to easily defeat two of them with a single punch, even doing so with a single hand while handling the other using his other hand, and easily break out when one of them got a hold on him, as well as blocking Sam's attacks with minor struggle and knocking him down and Sam only managed to defeat him when Castiel was off-guard, with it being made more notable by the fact that Castiel had no intentions to kill in the fight.
• He later on used hand-to-hand combat to easily smite several zombies unleashed by God before taking Jack's corpse and fleeing, and easily disarmed a Djinn police officer and beat him with a single punch. Castiel was even able to single-handedly escape from the Leviathans that held him captive and only sustain minor injuries in process.
• Master Swordsman - Castiel is highly proficient in swordplay, proving capable of easily killing other angels, demons and later on zombies with a single angel blade. When fighting the Grigori that held Jack captive, Castiel proved able to make short work of his brother with an angel blade despite the Grigori having a superior weapon and having higher strength.
• Moderate Hunting Skills - Due to his time spent with the Winchesters, Castiel acquired basic level of hunting knowledge and skill such as using devil's traps to contain demons he captures and on a few occasions, using fake IDs convincingly enough to fool law enforcement in a similar manner to a hunter. However, the latter is a skill that takes him some time to master. Eventually, he became good enough to successfully wield the weapons used by hunters against supernatural creatures with full understanding of their properties and could also successfully figure out a monster based on their pattern.
• Proficient Torturer – Castiel was shown to be considerably accomplished at the art of torture, as seen when he tortured one of Eve's Jefferson Starships into giving him information in a matter of minutes, despite having his powers blocked by the mother of all and he also succesfully tortured Dr. Visyak into giving him the spell to open Purgatory while Crowley couldn't.
• Leadership Skills - Although at times insecure, Castiel has displayed himself to be a considerably talented and natural leader, as during his war with Raphael, he was able to lead his angels into holding off Raphael's larger forces, although he himself acknowledged his defeat was inevitable had he not acquired power from the souls of Purgatory, which allowed him to briefly run all of Heaven itself before losing his powers. He later on led a group of angels who pledged themselves to him against Metatron and did so well enough that Metatron chose to turn his angels against him.
• Strategist - Castiel has proven himself to be a considerably masterful strategist, despite this not being his strong suit. He managed to use his powers to unscrew a bolt to fall it on Meg so he can use her body to walk out of the Holy Fire that trapped him, defeat all but Zachariah of the angels that guarded Adam by branding an Angel Banishing Sigil in his own chest and was even able to outsmart Crowley and Raphael, Crowley being a cunning strategist in his own right, by giving them false blood while he had the real blood and used it to gain the power of Purgatory's souls.
• Deception - Castiel has shown himself to be an excellent liar, being able to fool Dean, Bobby and Sam of his alliance with Crowley for months with them not even realizing it until learning Crowley was still alive.

Former Powers

After the Fall, Castiel lost all of his powers. Even when he regained his original grace, all of his powers weren't completely restored. Currently, Castiel is not able to use these powers:

• Apporting - Castiel could apport humans and monsters when he had his wings.
• Chronokinesis – As both a regular angel and a Seraph, Castiel could not only travel through time himself, but was also able to transport people through time and bring them back. However, the further back he sent someone, the harder it was for him to retrieve them. This was evidenced by the time he sent Sam and Dean to the 1800s; he could only send them for 24 hours or else he would be unable to bring them back and they would be lost to him. Upon his being promoted to a Seraph, Castiel's chronokinetic powers were advanced, but he unfortunately lost all of them after the Fall as seen with his stated inability to retrieve Dean from the past in The Vessel.
• Teleportation - As both a regular angel and a Seraph, Castiel possessed the ability to transport himself and others to any location as long as the area was not protected by enochian sigils, travelling from one place to another instantly. Like with all angels, whenever he used this power, it was accompanied by the sound of wings flapping and a sudden rush of air. He could, however, teleport without these accompaniments when travelling short distances. He was able to take humans with him, though this seemed to have minor adverse effects to the human, as evidenced with Dean stating that he wasn't able to poop for a week after Castiel teleported him. Unfortunately, Castiel lost his teleportation abilities after the Fall.

Weaknesses

Even though Castiel is arguably the longest lasting angel in the series and is also one of the strongest and most powerful supernatural beings to appear in the series, he still has weaknesses inherited in all angels.

• Angel banishing sigil - As an angel and seraph, Castiel can be banished by the sigil. When he was injured and weakened, the angel Ishim convinced Dean not to banish Castiel as it could potentially kill him. 
• Holy Fire - Like all angels, Castiel can be trapped by holy fire.
• Angel Blades - Castiel can and has been killed by angel blades.
  • Angel-killing bullets - These bullets can significantly harm Castiel and potentially kill him.
  • Angel-killing saws - These saws can significantly harm Castiel and potentially kill him.
  • Angel Swords - These swords can significantly harm Castiel and potentially kill him.
• Herd of Demons - While an individual demon is no match for him, in Stranger in a Strange Land, over half a dozen of black-eyed demons succeeded to beat up and overcome Castiel, although he stated he is more embarrassed than hurt.
• Herd of Zombies - Although Castiel could easily overpower and smite any of the individual zombies unleashed by God, he admitted even alongside Sam and Dean he would be eventually overwhelmed by those zombies and decided to escape rather than continue fighting all of them.
• Higher Demons - As a regular angel, he was easily overpowered by Alastair. The demon Ardat proved capable of telekinetically sending Castiel flying and physically injuring and restraining him, although it must be noted Castiel was distracted by her words of Belphegor's true intentions. Belphegor was able to fling Castiel out of Lilith's Chamber when Castiel was not focused on him, although he later on easily overpowered and killed the demon.
  • Cain - Cain mentioned that he could "swat" Castiel like a fly. Indeed, Cain flung Castiel away with telekinesis and merely shrugged off Castiel's angelic white light and it only ruffled his hair but did no damage to the Knight of Hell.
  • Princes of Hell - While fighting Ramiel, Castiel was effortlessly defeated and nearly killed with the Lance of Michael. When fighting Dagon, the latter was able to disarm and beat him with no real effort. At one point, she lifted Castiel into the air with just one hand with him unable to break her hold. Asmodeus was able to throw both Castiel and a weakened Lucifer with a flick of his hand. Asmodeus later tried to kill Castiel and Sam, he would have succeeded had Gabriel not intervened and kill the demon. It should be noted that although Castiel was a seraph when he was confronted by them, his wings were broken.
• Primordial Entities - The Darkness, God, and Death could annihilate Castiel effortlessly. Even when powered by all the souls and Leviathans in Purgatory, Castiel remains inferior to God and Death, as Death showed no fear of Castiel and noted he is not God. While weakened by the mass Smiting performed by the Angels, Amara still effortlessly physically overpowered Castiel, throwing him aside, and was able to painfully carve a message into his chest and apport him to Hell with ease. God was capable of suppressing his memories after resurrecting him, although temporarily, and as displayed in the alternate future where Castiel bore the Mark that held God at bay, God was able to influence Castiel into going mad to the point that the Winchesters could not reason with him and had to lock him away with the Ma'lak Box.
• Higher Angels - As a regular angel, Castiel was subservient to Zachariah, a higher angel, forcing him to follow his orders, and was overpowered by Uriel once he was demoted while Uriel got promoted. While still a regular angel, he had to follow the commands of his former captains Anna Milton and Ishim. The Grigori Tamiel was able to eventually defeat a wingless Castiel in a fight and likely would have killed him had Claire Novak not killed him while he was caught off-guard. Ishim was also able to easily defeat Castiel, although it must be noted that Castiel was weakened from healing Ishim.
  • Archangels - Archangels could kill and overpower Castiel effortlessly. As a regular angel and a seraph, Castiel was no match for Raphael or Lucifer, having got easily combusted by them. Later on as a Seraph, Castiel was left severely injured by a single blast of light from Raphael. Even while powered by the souls Crowley gave him, Castiel only could briefly banish him and was later easily beaten aside. Despite killing Raphael in his empowered state, Castiel knew he couldn't destroy both Michael and Lucifer, resolving to keeping them trapped. In almost every time he faced off against Lucifer, Castiel was soundly defeated and beaten to a bloody pulp, even once when he was aided by Sam and Dean inside the Cage and later on when Lucifer was weakened from his vessel rapidly deteriorating. At one point, Lucifer knocked him out by simply telekinetically tossing him aside and he only ever held his own against Lucifer when Lucifer's diminished grace had weakened him greatly and even then, Castiel had to flee and was injured enough that he later passed out. While posing as the Trickster, Gabriel effortlessly overpowered Castiel and sent him away with no problem and brought him back with a snap of his fingers. The Alternate Michael effortlessly knocked him out with a single punch. In their next meeting, Alternate Michael soundly beat him to a bloody pulp with just a few punches and drag him with no effort. Although Castiel managed to resist Michael's biokinetic attack when the latter was holding back to relish in his victory, he later on proved to be just as effected as Sam and Dean when Michael took all of their senses and would have been easily killed had Jack not saved them. Upon angering Michael, even with Michael being restrained with Supernatural Handcuffs, Castiel was still easily stunned and then placed in a chokehold by Michael, being unable to break free until he showed Michael the truth, and backed down when Michael threatened to kill him after Castiel stopped showing him memories, indicating even with Michael's powers weakened by Supernatural Handcuffs, he could still kill Castiel.
• Nephilim - A Nephilim can grow stronger than an angel. Jane was able to overpower Castiel and Metatron, forcing Castiel to sneak up on her, although it must be noted that Castiel was at a weakened state as the wounds he suffered from being shot by Crowley with angel-killing bullets had not healed. With a small burst of telekinetic energy, Jack easily incapacitated Castiel and the Winchesters to prevent them from stopping him from leaving the Bunker. Later, Jack effortlessly knocked Castiel to the floor, despite barely even touching him, when he tried to stop him from harming someone, while enraged. The effect was enough to keep Castiel incapacitated for a few moments. 
• Eve - Eve was able to render Castiel completely powerless through her mere presence in a town. Eve told Castiel as she was older, he couldn't do anything.
• Leviathans - Leviathans were able to kill Castiel. They could also negate his powers and overpower him. The Leviathans were able to take control of and kill him after he absorbed them. Later, the Leviathan leader, Dick Roman was easily able to throw Castiel across a room with great force.
• The Shadow - The Shadow was able to beat Castiel down while attempting to get him to sleep. When they met again, Castiel attacked The Shadow who effortlessly knocked Castiel aside.
• Grace Removal - When Metatron removed his grace, Castiel gained a soul and became a human, losing all his powers in the process. 
• Mortality (formerly) – While human, Castiel was susceptible to human mortality and all that came with it.
• Magic - Castiel is vulnerable to powerful magic. Rowena could restrain him through a spell and curse him. Rowena even stated that Castiel would have died had she not lifted the spell. Alastair nearly sent him back to Heaven with a expelling spell, and the Whore of Babylon disabled and caused him pain using a enochian spell.
• Diminishing Grace (formerly) - Without his original grace and using stolen grace, Castiel weakened periodically and would've died in the end before he regained his original grace.
• Mark of Cain - Dean with the Mark was able to physically hurt Castiel with punches and easily overpower him, with Castiel only surviving due to Dean restraining himself.
• Enochian Brass Knuckles - Ms. Watt used this weapon against Castiel in order to weaken and overpower him. They are specifically designed to harm angels.
• Lance of Michael - A weapon created by Michael to slowly kill Lucifer. It nearly poisoned Castiel to death before being broken by Crowley.
• Supernatural Handcuffs - Castiel states that the handcuffs were able to hold him.
• Gorgon - Noah Ophis was able to physically overpower Castiel, and his venom was able to paralyze him.
• Psychics - The powerful Psychic Chip Harrington was able to telekinetically overpower Castiel.